Virginia A. Seitz.
According to three sources, Virginia A. Seitz, a partner at Sidley Austin, has emerged as a leading candidate to head the Office of Legal Counsel, a critical job at the Department of Justice.
Seitz was educated at Duke University, from which she was graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with distinction in History; Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar; and University at Buffalo Law School, where she was the class of 1985's valedictorian. From 1986 to 1987, she clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.
According to NPR's Carrie Johnson, Seitz is an expert on constitutional law, regularly called upon to argue cases before federal appeals courts.
The Office of Legal Counsel's chief job has been unfilled for years. During the Bush administration, it attracted international attention for approving harsh detainee interrogation tactics.
President Obama had nominated Dawn Johnsen, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, for the job, but she withdrew her candidacy this year after the Senate failed to act.
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